(YES we included Where the Red Fern Grows. Come on.)

(Gin Jenny, an automaton, cries zero times. She did get teary on Twitter today thinking about the characters in new Star Wars, though.)

You can listen to the podcast using the embedded player below, or download the file directly to take with you on the go!

Bonus Episode 2

The wonderful Deb Reese wrote about American Indian representation in Walk Two Moons, and you can read that blog post here.

Let us know what tragic childhood books we missed! I hear there are many other dog books that are damn sad, but I just didn’t read them because after the trauma of Where the Red Fern Grows, I demand to know whether the dog lives before I will deign to pick up a book.

Get at me on Twitter, email the podcast, and friend me (Gin Jenny) and Whiskey Jenny on Goodreads. If you like what we do, support us on Patreon. Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very very much).

Credits
Producer: Captain Hammer
Photo credit: The Illustrious Annalee
Theme song by: Jessie Barbour
Transcripts by: Sharon of Library Hungry

Transcript is coming soon!

The post Reading the End Bookcast BONUS: The Saddest Children’s Books appeared first on Reading the End.

The beginning: We begin in medias res, with everybody bickering. The Hollis home houses three siblings (little Elsie and Henry, plus nearly-grown Ralph, back from several years in Cornwall), an adopted cousin (Joan, yearning to be married and away), a long-suffering mother, her complaining sister, and a father who resents Ralph’s apparent abandonment of his own working-class values and ideas. The house is tired from the war and tired from crowding, and everybody is angry at everybody else. In particular, Ralph and his father are furious with each other. Ralph only wants to be an actor, and his father wants him to settle down to regular life and work in the paper mill.

When Ralph gets fired from the paper mill (for having a smart mouth), he has to seek work elsewhere. Desperate to get his foot in the door at the local theatre, he volunteers to help with sets on Saturday evenings. Meanwhile he gets a job as a gardener and odd-jobs-doer for a wealthyish Mrs. Egerton-Smythe, whose overbearing son controls her finances and won’t let her do anything she wants to do.

The end (spoilers in this section only; highlight blank spaces to see them): I didn’t really need to read this, I suppose. You always knew what was going to happen. Mrs. Egerton-Smythe’s dreadful son gets his comeuppance, and Ralph and his father come to an uneasy understanding of each other. It is nice to be able to count on Michelle Magorian for a good ending, even if the middle is extremely sad. (You may recall certain events that befell certain characters in Good Night Mr. Tom that I have still not full forgiven Michelle Magorian for.)

The whole: Not quite as strong as Back Home, still my favorite of Michelle Magorian’s books. But it was exactly what I was expecting and exactly what I was in the mood for. I love stories about parents and children misunderstanding and disappointing each other and ultimately realizing how much they love and respect each other. (Cf. Power of Three, among many many others.)

And okay, yes, there were some convenient coincidences that helped Ralph’s theatrical career along. That cannot be denied. On the other hand, I don’t care! I like for people to achieve their dreams so there cruel world. Not everybody who works in the theater can have a sterling work ethic, and I felt fine about having one ditsy rich theater girl batting her eyes at everyone and failing to do her duties so that Ralph could swoop in and save the day.

I will leave you with this Monty Python skit. I think of it every time I read one of these working-class-parents-with-posh-kids books. Graham Chapman is such a delight. Angry is my favorite look for Graham Chapman. (Manic for John Cleese, officious for Michael Palin, straight man for Terry Jones, and uncomfortably chatty for Eric Idle, in case you are wondering.)

Have you read anything by Michelle Magorian? Her most famous Good Night Mr. Tom, or one of her more obscure books?

The post Cuckoo in the Nest, Michelle Magorian appeared first on Reading the End.